Our mission statement: Continuing our community’s commitment to preservation and environmental protection by stopping the PennEast pipeline project; the construction and operation of which would threaten local natural resources, the environment, and our safety.

Monthly Archives: September 2019

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Today we had a great victory! The
state of New Jersey won in the 3rd circuit court of appeals against
PennEast! (see attached decision) The court decision stated that
PennEast, a private company, does not, under the 11th amendment, have
the authority to file for eminent domain against a sovereign state. Only
the federal government has that authority. Please read on for the HALT
summary. And ENJOY today’s victory! The fight may not be over, but
this win feels very good!

From Our Friends at HALT:

Today
the 3rd Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the NJ
Attorney General’s appeal of the lower court ruling granting PennEast
the right to access and seize over 40 properties preserved by the
state. The court ruled that the state has sovereign immunity under the
11th Amendment of the Constitution and can’t be sued by a private
company in federal court. The ruling means that PennEast no longer has
any authority over these properties. This
is a great victory for all of the homeowners who stood strong against
condemnation of their lands, encouraging the Attorney General to take
the same stance. While it is unclear what might happen next, this is a
significant blow to PennEast’s efforts to advance the project. PennEast
could appeal the decision to the Supreme Court, seek to have FERC
condemn state lands on their behalf, or possibly try to re-route the
project around state-preserved lands. We will share more information as we have it, but should all celebrate this important court victory in the meantime.

This is what we’ve all been waiting for. The chance to shut down this pipeline down at the NJDEP once and for all with facts and science at our backs! We are waiting for the official comment period to begin once the application is posted in the NJDEP bulletin. In the meantime, brush off your old FERC comments and start reading the application: